ASEAN legislators call for end on growing assault on journalists
MANILA, Philippines — As the world commemorates the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights urged Southeast Asian nations to put an end on "growing assault" against press freedom.
The group of regional lawmakers also called for justice on those responsible for killing media workers as a culture of impunity emboldens more attacks on journalists.
Rep. Teddy Baguilat (Ifugao), an APHR board member, warned that the media is under increasing threat in the region.
"It is abhorrent that brave journalists should have to put their personal freedom or even lives on the line when they are simply trying to do their jobs," Baguilat said.
The Ifugao lawmaker stressed that Southeast Asian governments must do more to protect journalists to avoid sending a signal that such crimes are acceptable.
Philippines' 'shameful record'
In the Philippines alone, there have been at least 47 unsolved killings of journalists since 2008, making the country one of the most dangerous countries for media workers.
Last June, unknown gunmen shot down local published Dennis Denora while driving his car through Panabo City, Davao del Norte.
One of the most deadliest single attacks against journalists in history was the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, which took the lives of at least 34 media workers. Until now nobody has been held accountable for the gruesome incident.
The Philippines, along with Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Sudan, are the five states in the world with the poorest accountability records, based on the Committee to Protect Journalists.
APHR chair and Malaysian lawmaker Charles Santiago said President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against media outlets must end immediately.
"The Philippines has a shameful record of holding killers of journalists to account – authorities should focus on seeking justice for these attacks, not trying to silence legitimate criticism," Santiago said.
Challenge to ASEAN governments
Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia are also among Southeast Asian countries where murders of journalists have gone unpunished in the last decade.
At least 13 journalists have been killed in Cambodia since 1994, most of whom were investigating corruption allegations against government and military officials, the APHR said.
In Myanmar, two Reuters journalists have been sentenced to seven years in jail for violating the Official Secrets Act.
"Their only 'crime' was helping to uncover a massacre of Rohingya villagers by the Myanmar security forces," the APHR said.
Santiago pointed out that independent media should be proected and not subjected to attacks as it plays a crucial role in any democracy.
"Governments in Southeast Asia and across the world must do their utmost to ensure that journalists can carry out their work without fear of reprisal. This must include effective, impartial and speedy investigations into all attacks on media workers," the Malaysian lawmaker said.
Dennis Denora, a Sun.Star reporter and publisher of the Trends and Times community paper, has been shot dead by unidentified killers, according to the Davao chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
Denora was killed near the wet market of Panabo City in Davao Del Norte on Thursday afternoon, NUJP Davao says.
The Davao del Norte Press & Radio-TV Club says in a statement that is is angered and saddened by news of the killing.
"His death awakens the anger and pains of journalists who do their job and yet are being judged by the pistol," the group also says.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports four student journalists of The Democrat, student publication of University of Nueva Caceres were intimidated and subjected to surveillance by members of the Philippine Army.
"The other soldiers took their photos without consent. Democrat editor-in-chief Aila Joy Esperida protested, and told the soldiers to delete the photos. She also asked for the identity of the soldier asking for their personal data. The soldier introduced himself as Sergeant Creo," NUJP says.
It adds that students were asked what they were doing at the plaza and claimed that they will be holidng a rally. NUJP says Creo went to say "that activists are often recruited to the New People's Army."
"The following day, Esperida received a letter signed by their barangay captain summoning her and her parents for a dialogue with the Philippine Army on Sept. 24. On Sept. 23, The Democrat photojournalist John Harvee Cabal also received a similar letter from their barangay," NUJP reports.
A Mexican journalist was shot to death in a store parking lot on Saturday in the southern tourist town of Acapulco, regional authorities said, in the country's second journalist killing in a week.
Prosecutors said they have opened an investigation for homicide with a firearm in the killing of Nelson Matus, days after the body of fellow journalist Luis Martin Sanchez was found "with signs of violence" after he had been reported missing. — AFP
A regional correspondent for leading Mexican newspaper La Jornada was found dead on Saturday, a day after he went missing in the western state of Nayarit, the daily said.
"A body found in the village of Huachines... in the municipality of Tepic was identified as Luis Martin Sanchez Iniguez, 59 years old, correspondent for La Jornada," the Mexico City newspaper said on its website.
The journalist's wife, Cecilia Lopez, told investigators that she had been unaware of his whereabouts since Wednesday night, when she was in another town visiting relatives, the newspaper reported, citing local authorities.
Sanchez Iniguez's body was found on Saturday morning in a rural area near Tepic, the capital of Nayarit. Some unconfirmed local media reports said he was found wrapped in plastic bags and had a message on his chest.
Sanchez was at home Wednesday night and spoke to his wife on the phone. — AFP
A respected South African investigative journalism organisation has won a legal battle against a powerful businessman in a case that tested the country's media freedom.
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism had earlier been barred from using documents acquired from a source in its reporting on controversial businessman Zunaid Moti -- who claimed they were stolen.
But High Court Judge Roland Sutherland on Monday set aside that order, describing it as "an abuse of the process of court". — AFP
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism draws its name from the Zulu word for dung beetle -- a diligent species that fulfils a crucial role.
The tiny South African non-profit specialises in delving into political corruption -- "digging dung and fertilizing democracy," its editor-in-chief, Sam Sole, said with a chuckle in a recent interview with AFP.
Sole, a lean and bearded 61-year-old, has had little opportunity for laughter of late.
His organisation has been running a lengthy investigation into a powerful businessman accused of unscrupulous business dealings, including with President Emmerson Mnangagwa of neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The probe has unleashed a legal and financial headache for the centre as it faces a full-throated challenge from Zunaid Moti, the tycoon in question.
The case reaches a key stage on Tuesday when the High Court will hear Moti's objections that the investigation is based on stolen documents which should be handed over.
The outcome has huge importance for whistleblowers who until now have been largely shielded from identification by the law. — AFP
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